Owning a business is tough these days. We know there’s a worker shortage and that the restaurant industry has been hit hard. Food trucks aren’t having an easy time, either, though the problems at Bain BBQ are a little different.

It’s a not a matter of staffing, as everything is done by Bryant Bain and his wife, Heather Waldecker. And although his business is new, Bain has received plenty of good press, shout-outs on social media and word-of-mouth recommendations.

Street Food: Bain BBQ brings taste of Texas to Broad Avenue

His problem is more complicated. There’s planning, for one. What if you cook a lot, it rains and no one shows up? Or what if it’s raining so you don’t cook much, then everyone comes and you run out of food? 

Those things happened and if that doesn’t sound like a big deal, think about having all your money invested in your small business and that business being your sole source of income.

Then there’s this: Bain has a popular product, so much so that people will camp out in lawn chairs waiting for his Broad Avenue truck to open — yet he’s still limited on what he can prepare, because all that Texas-style barbecue is being made right there. So people come and leave frustrated if there’s no brisket, maybe no beef ribs.

Anyway, it all added up and two weeks ago, Bain took to social media and said that his days were numbered without an investor. Last week, he launched a GoFundMe, which he took down almost right away.

“They charge a percentage and I figured we can do this another way,” Bain said.

That other way is a series of special dinners, all for the purpose of raising the approximately $15,000 he needs to purchase more equipment.

“I’ve hit the max I can cook on my smoker, so I’m trying to raise the money to buy a bigger smoker,” Bain said.

On July 27, he’s selling a 14-ounce ribeye, baked potato, roasted asparagus and your choice of a slice of strawberry or vanilla sheet cake for $50. On July 28, he’s doing giant stuffed potatoes, which are full of pulled pork, beans, jalapeno peppers — sort of like nachos, he said — for $15 or brisket for $17.

New Spanish restaurants will soon be in our midst, as well as ice cream

Both are by reservation only, and you can get it to go or hang around the food truck and eat; BYOB if you want.

“We’re going to keep doing these special dinners and see how that goes,” he said. “We’ll do a whole hog one night, do prime rib, different things.”

You have to order ahead of time on his website, so he’ll make just the right amount, and orders are limited both nights this week.

Bain said the larger smoker is critical to having enough food on hand, and that he’ll better figure out supply and demand as he keeps at it; he only opened this spring. A couple of slow weeks in early July (the second slowest time of the year for the restaurant business) took him by surprise, but he bounced back from that. He said he wasn’t aware that it was a traditionally slow time, so it took him by surprise.

“It seems like the cycles are a little different here than they are in Texas,” he said. “Right now I’m just going to have to figure it out.”

And his plans for a brick and mortar are on hold.

“I figure I better learn how to run a food truck first,” he said. “We’re going to do everything we can to keep this truck going.”

It’s good news, bad news and dang news for Peggy’s Healthy Home Cooking. The bad news is that the restaurant has left its original home on Cleveland, where owner Peggy Brown opened in 2010. The good news is that she left because she needs more space for takeout, dine-in and for the growing catering business she’s established.

But dang, it turns out that her new space at 944 East E.H. Crump Blvd. came with a little problem: Thieves have stolen parts from the outside portion of the Vent-A-Hood, so while she has a big kitchen with plenty of space, she can’t use it right now.

So she opened in the new place last week and you can get a meal there, but the food is still being cooked in the small kitchen on Cleveland. But all the dining room furniture has been moved, so you can’t eat food on Cleveland, just on Crump. Hopefully they’ll be able to find parts to replace pieces that were stolen, but if not, Brown is going to have a big expense to get the new kitchen operational. I had lunch there on Friday and my meal was delivered to me about three minutes after we ordered. Though the fried chicken was being kept in a warmer, it was crisp and good as always.

I’ve long been a fan of Brown’s food and think her catfish is among the best in town. I only chose fried chicken on Friday because there was no tartar sauce; working out of two places means there are plenty of little kinks like that (we even ate from disposable plates and with plastic utensils), so be patient as they work through this move that more than triples the space but is causing a big headache right now.

A look ahead: This week, we visit the new Ghost River Brewery on Beale in our Cheers for Beers series, and I ate something new last week that I’ll tell you about in My Favorite Things.